Organic explosives typically consist of a carbon core and incorporate covalently bonded oxidizer groups such as nitro, nitramine, etc. N—N and N—O bonds contained in such compounds can contribute to a positive heat of formation.
Adamantanes are C10H16 alicyclic hydrocarbons whose structure has the same arrangement of carbon atoms as does the basic unit of the diamond lattice. Adamantane was first synthesized in 1941 by V. Prelog from Meerwein's ester. Adamantanes have highly rigid skeletons with cores that exhibit very little strain and thus exhibit high thermal stability. However, steric considerations have hampered the synthesis of stable, more energetic substituted adamantanes.
Accordingly, there is a need for intermediates and synthetic methods for making substituted adamantanes. Specifically, synthetic methods that enable substitution of some of the framework carbon atoms by nitrogen atoms are important because adjusting the carbon and nitrogen atom counts may be desirable for attaining optimum explosive properties.